Double Take Ch. 02
Keywords: Double, Take, 02, Ch.,
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For those who missed Part I, the players are:
Sandy Lane, pro surfer with an uncanny resemblance to...
Ashley Vaughn, gorgeous Hollywood starlet in a TV series produced by...
Darla Palmer, who convinces Sandy to bob his nose after he is punched out by rival surfer...
Buster Cruz, whose mysterious death in Honolulu is being investigated by...
Detective Halani and Lieutenant Goering.
Ashley played with Sandy's long blonde hair as he slept uneasily beside her. Usually Sandy was dead to the world after they finished making love, but tonight he seemed to be plagued by new demons. As he tossed and turned in one of her old nightgowns, she knew that he had carried through somehow on his promise to eliminate the threat of Buster Cruz. But what had he done?
Sandy had adamantly refused to tell her what went on while she was away in New York. All she was able to get out of him was that he had made a quick trip to Hawaii, and that she didn't have anything more to worry about. However, if by chance she were contacted by Lieutenant Goering of the L.A.P.D. or Detective Halani of the Honolulu Police Department, she should say nothing.
Who was this person she was sleeping with, Ashley wondered. Sandy Lane had given up his manhood for her. Had he also given up his soul? Could the beautiful girl in her nightgown, who was really a boy, also be a murderer?
He cried out again, and she took him in her arms. Whatever he might have done, he did it for her. Ashley Vaughn was responsible for what Sandy Lane had become, and she was determined to keep him this way for as long as she could. She reached down and found his flaccid penis. Slowly, tenderly, she stroked him back to life. When his eyes opened, she whispered, "Whatever you did, it's okay. Everything's going to be okay."
She lifted up his nightgown and lowered herself onto him, easing herself up and down as if she were the man and he were the woman. Their strange reality was a blessed escape from his dreams. So they made love again and again, until the studio wakeup service told them it was time to get up and get dressed for work.
They were shooting on location at Lunada Bay on the Palos Verdes Peninsula that week. Palos Verdes is a rugged, tree covered paradise on the southern outskirts of greater Los Angeles. At this hour, the usual freeway traffic was nonexistent. It was an unseasonably warm morning, with hot Santa Ana winds, and Sandy lowered the top of his convertible as they began their descent from the Hollywood Hills. The sun crept over the eastern horizon as they made their way towards the coast.
* * *
A few hours later, Ashley and Sandy sat side by side in the makeup trailer on the set of Wet Girls. The makeup team had gotten Sandy's transformation into Ashley's double down to a science, and they liked to work on both Pepper Reefs simultaneously to make sure they had the same look. They each had their blonde hair slicked back as if they had already been in the water, and their identical wetsuits were hot pink today.
This week's episode would involve a big confrontation between Pepper Reef and a group of bad-ass local surfers known as the Bay Boys. Although Palos Verdes is an upscale Los Angeles suburb, Lunada Bay is notorious for run-ins between visitors and the local surfers who claim it as their turf. The real Bay Boys had been bought off by the network for a few days, their places taken by walk-on surfers who had auditioned for the parts. Toby Goodfin would have loved this, Sandy thought sadly to himself as a coat of gloss was applied to his pouting lips.
The day's shooting was over before noon, and the crew was packing up to leave when Sandy walked over to the bluff above Lunada Bay to check out the surf. It was going off perfectly, twenty foot barrels rolling in from the north without a surfer in sight. When would he ever see Lunada Bay like this again?
At Sandy's insistence, the crew carried with them a huge inventory of surfboards, so he would be able to perform his stunts under a variety of conditions. Sandy grabbed a big wave gun and started to make his way barefoot down the steep path towards the rocky beach. Ashley decided to stay behind and watch him, so she spread a blanket out for herself on the grassy bluff and settled back while her man did what he loved. With Catalina Island and the blue Pacific in the background, she watched as a tiny pink figure paddled steadily through the churning sea, out towards a cluster of rocks at the mouth of the cove.
For almost two hours, Sandy lost himself in the surf. It was a catharsis for him, as he duck-dived under the rough breakers again and again to find an endless series of perfect swells waiting to be ridden. His grief over the death of his best friend, and his feelings of guilt for avenging him, were finally washed away by the waves crashing over him. It was almost as if Toby were there with him in the water, telling Sandy that it was okay to let him go. When he climbed back up the trail, all he wanted to do was take Ashley to his bed and hold on to her forever.
* * *
With the elimination of Ashley Vaughn as a suspect in the murder of Buster Cruz, the attention of the police remained on the mystery woman who was seen with the victim at Rosie's Café on the North Shore the day before his death. A search of Buster's body had produced a business card and a folded up copy of a contract, both of which turned out to be bogus. No useful fingerprints were found on either of them.
The murder scene yielded a few other clues: a brown wig, a pair of brown contact lenses, a negligee, and an untraceable Baretta automatic pistol. If they could identify a suspect, the contact lenses might provide a DNA match. But after weeks of interviews in Honolulu and on the north shore, the police were getting nowhere. A hotel clerk did remember a woman with long brown hair paying cash for the suite at the Halekulani, but she used the same bogus name printed on the business card found in Buster's pocket.
Detective Halani decided to widen the net. A review of Buster's past criminal record showed a number of minor run-ins with the law, mostly for disturbing the peace and resisting arrest. However, there was one charge in Huntington Beach involving assault and battery against a competing surfer in a competition the previous year. The charge was dismissed after the other surfer, Sandy Lane, failed to show up and testify at a grand jury proceeding.
Detective Halani managed to get his hands on a video tape of the incident, and once he saw it, he thought he might have a possible motive. The police reports from Huntington Beach indicated that Sandy Lane had been hospitalized with a massive concussion and a severely broken nose, and he had dropped out of sight after he was released from the hospital. On a hunch, Halani asked for a print out of the arrivals and departures from Honolulu International Airport the day of the Cruz murder. Sure enough, Sandy Lane was listed as a passenger on a United flight that left for Los Angeles three hours after the estimated time of Buster's death.
Detective Halani still wasn't convinced that Lane, who had a spotless criminal record, was his suspect. But maybe he could provide the police with information as to the identity of the mystery woman. The detective called Lieutenant Goering in Los Angeles and brought him into the picture.
* * *
They decided to spend the week at Sandy's condo in Redondo Beach, since it was a short drive from Lunada Bay. Sandy hadn't been there since the day after Thanksgiving, so they stopped at a supermarket to stock up on food, disguising themselves from autograph-seekers with baseball caps and sunglasses. They were each wearing jeans, flip-flops, and baggy sweatshirts, and nobody gave them a second glance as they made their way down the aisles.
Ashley had packed only an overnight bag, intending to borrow some of Sandy's clothes if they decided to go out. When Sandy hauled the groceries into his kitchen, he saw that he had six phone messages.
The first was from his parents, wishing him a happy Thanksgiving. He had called them already from Ashley's house the next day. Sandy's parents had retired to Park City, and he hadn't seen them in over a year. They had finally reconciled themselves to his life as a vagabond surfer, but they were still not happy about it, and their occasional telephone conversations served to maintain an uneasy peace.
The next four messages were from telemarketers, and Sandy deleted them all. Ashley had gone into the bathroom, and she did not hear the sixth message:
"Mr. Lane, this is Lieutenant Goering of the Los Angeles Police Department. We have a few questions concerning an ongoing investigation, and I would appreciate it if you would give me a call as soon as you get this message." The lieutenant left his number, and closed by instructing Sandy to have him paged if he did not pick up.
Maybe it was the therapeutic effect of his afternoon in the surf, but Sandy was remarkably cool and calm as he calculated his position. The police must have come across his name during their search for suspects with a possible motive to do in Buster Cruz. That would include half the surfers on the pro tour, but if they saw the video of Buster decking Sandy at the Masters World, they would have to talk to him. Okay, let's get this over with.
Sandy took the cordless phone out onto his lanai and called the lieutenant's number. He found him at his desk. "Homicide, Goering speaking."
"This is Sandy Lane returning your call."
"Yes sir, thank you for calling me back. I was wondering if I might stop by and have a few words with you."
"Sure. What about?"
"I'd rather not say until we can discuss it in person. Would tomorrow be convenient for you?"
"I'll be out most of the day. Is four o'clock too late for you?"
"Four o'clock it is. Let me just make sure I have the address right." The lieutenant did, and he hung up as Ashley was opening the door to the lanai.
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Keywords: Double, Take, 02, Ch.,